


the most dearly loved person I know

by LibbyLune



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, Gen, gen??? from me??? yes but it's also "everyone loves Sanji" in an unspecified way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 14:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30090675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyLune/pseuds/LibbyLune
Summary: Everyone comes in to bother Sanji while he makes snack because theylove him; that's it that's the fic
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 9
Kudos: 125





	the most dearly loved person I know

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something simple and I DID, it's even too short for angst

It’s an afternoon like many others. Sanji can hear some of the others playing on the deck, and he himself is in the kitchen, preparing a round of snacks to keep them all happy until dinner. Brook is playing a love song at the counter, a long, poignant number Sanji hasn’t heard before.

Robin comes in with a book in one hand and an empty teacup in the other. Radiant as ever, with a soft smile at the corners of her lips and her eyes still distant from whatever she was reading.

“More tea, my flower?” Sanji chips, before she has to ask.

“If you would,” she nods, and goes to sit with the skeleton while Sanji puts the water on to heat.

It’s no trouble of course, and Robin’s quiet laugh is a perfect addition to Brook’s slow song, the lyrics interrupted now and then by conversation. Soon enough the hiss of steam rises above even that, and Sanji pours the tea, filling the kitchen with the aroma of Robin’s favorite blend.

He twirls it over to her, rewarded with a brighter smile. “Anything else I can do for you, Robin-chan?”

“This is more than enough,” Robin demures, eyelashes fluttering with the first sip of tea. “Perfect as always, Sanji.”

A bit more fussing and she turns to leave, patting Sanji on the cheek and making him blush so badly he can’t follow up on his latest attempt to coax her into an early treat. Brook chuckles at him over the musical interlude of his ballad, but Sanji can’t be bothered to care.

“I’ll let you get back to work,” Robin says, “but remind me later, I found something in one of my books I believe you will enjoy.”

“Of course!”

Sanji can only spare half an eye to watch her leave, but the sight is as soothing as ever, knowing she’ll come back. No matter how much time has passed since Enies Lobby and the fiasco with CP9, it’s always a quiet joy to see Robin living easily among them.

Luffy is the next one to rush through the door, looping his arms around Sanji’s torso until he can’t move to stir the dish he’s working on. Sighing, Sanji sets the spoon aside and leans back to pin Luffy against the counter before his captain can eat too many ingredients.

“Sanji, I’m hungry,” Luffy pouts.

“As always.”

“When is snack? I want -”

“Sooner if you leave me alone,” Sanji grumbles, unable to put his heart into it. The pleasant sunlight streaming through the windows, the gentle wind outside, the flawless sound of Brook’s fingers tripping over his violin strings… Sanji is in too good a mood to ruin it by throwing Luffy through the door.

“I wanted to see Sanji,” Luffy complains. “Come play with us.”

“What did I just tell you about snack?”

“After, then,” his captain insists.

“After,” Sanji agrees, earning one of Luffy’s beaming smiles. It makes him feel like nothing could possibly go wrong, as long as his captain keeps smiling at him like that. “Now get out of my sight, and I’ll bring you your snack soon.”

“Sanji’s the best!” Luffy cheers, unwinding his arms with a loud snap. He bounds back out onto the deck, the general cacophony of the crew outside rising, and scarce minutes later Chopper comes scurrying through on his way to the infirmary.

“ - needs a doctor! Oh no, oh no...”

“You are the doctor, Chopper-san, ohoho!”

Sanji tunes them out, and moves on to choosing decorations for the ladies’ drinks. Chopper barely sounds frazzled, so it must be nothing serious.

Brook sings another chorus, a repeating message about the search to find true love, and Sanji listens to Chopper’s little hooves clip-clopping against the wood a few more times as he dashes back and forth. Eventually their flustered doctor hoists himself up onto a stool beside Brook and thunks his head down onto the counter with a sigh.

“How many times do I have to tell them not to throw Zoro’s weights around,” Chopper moans. “Bastards.”

“At least a few more,” Sanji quips, passing the reindeer a plate of cookies. No one will know if Chopper gets part of his snack early; he certainly works hard enough to deserve it.

The way Chopper’s eyes light up is enough reward in and of itself, not to mention their doctor’s babbled praise as he stuffs his face with sugar.

“Slow down, you won’t be able to taste it that way,” Sanji mutters, unable to keep a smile off his face as he takes a moment to watch.

“It’s delicious, Sanji! Amazing!” Chopper exclaims, spraying crumbs onto the counter.

“Chew with your mouth closed.” Sanji rolls his eyes and Brook laughs, the music pausing for a moment as the skeleton takes a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe Chopper’s face.

Chopper swats his hands away, squirming in his seat. “I’m not a kid - stop that - “

Snickering a little himself, Sanji puts the water back on, and takes Chopper’s plate when he dutifully brings it around to the sink. Quiet returns to the galley - at least as much as possible - when Chopper leaves again; Brook goes back to his song, and the usual commotion outside settles into a dull roar.

Sanji refills the skeleton’s tea, receiving a solemn nod in thanks, and he listens to a verse about courting in the springtime while he washes a few dishes. Before long, metallic clanking approaches the galley door, accompanied by scurrying boots.

“Guess what, Cook-bro?!”

“Sanji, Sanji, look what we made!”

Franky clomps into the galley, carrying some kind of machine, with Usopp hot on his heels. Sanji warily takes the sauce for his latest dish off the heat.

“What is it?” he asks.

“It’s gonna be SUPER useful -”

“You’re going to love it -”

“- for keeping people out of your kitchen, just watch -”

“ - and no one will see it coming; the Great Captain Usopp is a master of surprise -”

“Just tell me what it is,” Sanji interrupts. The sooner these two stop talking over one another, the sooner he can tell them to get their mysterious and no-doubt dangerous invention out of his kitchen.

“It’s a catapult!” Usopp gleefully explains.

“Like a cross between a coup de vent and my radical beam, we’re calling it the -”

“No beams in my kitchen, no way,” Sanji firmly tells them, putting his foot down despite their disappointed faces. Those expressions only last a moment, Franky leaning down to whisper with Usopp in a way that makes Sanji think he should have worded that better.

“No beams, got it!” Franky exclaims, giving his signature thumbs-up.

“We’ll be back!” Usopp promises. “The next version of the SUPER Kitchen Protector Spectacular will be even better!”

They haul their machine - which Sanji will _never_ allow in his kitchen, no matter how few beams it has - out of the galley, and Sanji breathes a sigh of relief, putting his sauce back on the stove.

Barely a few lovelorn phrases into Brook’s next verse, the door opens again. Nami whirls in and shuts it behind her, peering out the inset window for a few seconds before slumping against it.

“They never _learn_ ,” she mutters, flipping her hair out of her eyes. Sanji swoons, nearly forgetting to stir as he greets her.

“What can I do for my beautiful angel? Something to drink? Would you like your snack now? I can -”

“I’ll wait, Sanji,” she dismisses, moving to the couch. “Some water, though, with orange?”

Naturally he’s thrilled to get it for her, grating the orange peel into a pretty curl to hang over the edge of her glass. “What happened this time? If you need me to teach someone a lesson, just say the word!”

“Nothing, nothing.” Waving her hand, Nami takes a drink and smiles, relaxing against the couch. “Mischief as usual.”

Sanji waits for more, but their crewmates must not have irritated her too badly. He steels himself to turn away from her beauty and finish his sauce, and Nami hums along to Brook’s song.

“You know this one, Nami-swan?” Sanji asks.

She nods, eyes half-closed. “It’s an old story. The hero’s a lot like Sanji-kun, wouldn’t you say, Brook?”

“Ohoho! Indeed, Miss Nami.”

As much as he hates feeling left out of the joke as she smirks a bit and Brook chuckles, it’s a different kind of satisfying to see them share something between the two of them. Still, he’s too curious to let it go.

“How so?” Sanji prompts, hoping he doesn’t sound too nervous.

“He’s a flighty romantic with no good sense,” Nami says, smile softening when Sanji’s expression falters. “Hard working. Never gives up on his dreams, and even though he fails a lot, he’s happy in the end.”

She shrugs, leaving her empty glass on the counter as Sanji tries to figure out what to say. Sure enough, the new verse sees the hero of the story bouncing back from his latest setback, and regaining his love’s good graces with a grand romantic overture. Screaming laughter drowns out a few lines as Nami opens the door to leave, and Sanji gathers all his creations to start plating them for snack. 

He’s nearly finished when someone comes in yet again, the door swinging back to hit the galley wall in just the way Sanji and Franky both are always telling the damn marimo not to do -

“What do you want, shitty swordsman?” Sanji demands, without even turning his head.

“Luffy’s gonna go ballistic any second if you don’t get some food in him,” Zoro responds, stomping his way over.

“So?”

“Thought I’d warn you before he comes back in here himself.”

“No need, marimo.”

“I’m sure.”

Sanji can practically hear Zoro rolling his eye. As if Sanji doesn’t know that it’s time for snack. Damn moss ball should mind his own business. “I hope you don’t think you’re going to get extra booze or anything by coming in here early.”

“‘Course not,” Zoro scoffs, but Sanji peeks through his hair at the swordsman and sees a faint pout on his face. Nobody else would notice, but Sanji knows everything about reading his crew’s moods. It’s his job to keep them happy, after all.

Maybe that’s a stretch from his actual job description, but it’s one Sanji wants to make. Nothing lifts a person’s mood faster than food, after all.

It’s a beautiful day. Sanji has nothing to lose by being a little generous with the resident houseplant. 

“Take this out,” he instructs, passing Zoro a huge bowl of popcorn to share and plunking a bottle of sake down on the tray beside it. “And this is for you.”

The marimo eyes him suspiciously but turns tail without a stubborn word when Sanji raises a foot in his direction. Sanji snorts. Zoro damn well better not talk back when Sanji is being so benevolent.

A final swirl of sauce over each individual dish - extra meat for Luffy - one more decorative flower in Robin’s drink, Franky’s cola poured over ice, and Sanji leans back to survey the final product. Perfect, if he does say so himself.

Brook croons a few more lines, and this must be the last verse, because as Nami said, the hero is finally happy, riding off into the sunset with his paramour. Sanji would leave out the horse and keep to the sea, himself, but it sounds nice.

“I wish I had that,” he sighs, forgetting for a moment that Brook must be listening. “True love.”

The skeleton laughs, fingers teasing out a few final notes before putting his violin aside. “Ohoho! But my dear, you are the most dearly loved person I know!”

Sanji gapes at him as Brook unfolds to his full height, fluffing his cravat and smoothing the wrinkles out of his coat.

“Not a one of us can bear to be without you for so much as an afternoon,” Brook continues. “Why, even as you’ve made this treat for us, we’ve seen each one of our dear friends come to see you, have we not? Though I have no eyes to see, ohoho! Skull joke!”

Curling his fingers around the edges of his finished tray, Sanji tries to make sense of that. “But -”

“People say a kitchen is the heart of a home, but it would be quite empty without you.” Brook places a bony hand on Sanji’s shoulder, and leans down to make the gesture of a kiss to his hair. “Now, dear one, may I help you with this?”

“I’ve got it,” Sanji automatically says, but he lets Brook hold the door for him as he takes the tray of snacks out to the rest of the crew. They’re all right outside on the deck, all their activities somehow aligned to bring them together. Because they’re waiting for him, Sanji realizes, for once feeling like it’s not only his food they’re eager to see.

It’s a quiet revelation; not exactly new. Still, Sanji feels like his ears are ringing, or his foot’s asleep, or _something_ just a little different as he fends off Luffy’s hands on his way to give the ladies their drinks first. This crew is his home - he’s known that for ages - but it’s like looking through someone else’s eyes to recognize that he’s an important part of _home_ for all of them, as well. It’s a view Sanji can get used to.


End file.
